Gráinne Loughran talks to Louise Macnamara of Heathers about their new single, working with your sister and what it’s like to play in front of Steven Spielberg.
Heathers may have been quiet on the Irish scene in recent months, but they certainly haven’t been idle. Twins Louise and Ellie Macnamara launched onto the scene back in 2007 when their single ‘Remember When’ hit the Irish airwaves. The 17 year olds were in their Leaving Cert year at the time. Now 25, and with a whole lot of life experience under their belts, they’ve released their first single since 2012. ‘November’ marks a change in Heathers’ vibe, with a mature, more ballad-driven sound; they’re back with something that feels closer to the true Heathers than perhaps ever before.
“We wrote our first record when we were 17 years old, when we were just finishing up school,” says Louise, who makes up one half of the Heathers duo. “We’re now 25, and definitely in a different place to where we were then. I think we’ve developed as people but also as songwriters, and our taste in music has changed and I think that’s probably going to affect the type of music we write. Doing the same thing all the time would probably get a bit boring for us. So I think we like to change it up and do something different. I think what’s different about the music, for example ‘November’, in the past a lot of our songs have been quite metaphorical and not necessarily so straight forward. I think that November is a bit more out there and obvious in its lyrics, and in that way it’s a bit different as well.”
It’s been three years since Heathers’ last album, Kingdom, but despite the stress, the pair have been busy with touring and other projects since then. “We recorded Kingdom in 2012, or released it in 2012, and I think with that record, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we felt a lot of pressure,” says Louise. “Things were probably a bit rushed, moreso than we would have liked. So we spent 2012, 2013, 2014 touring the record here, then in the States and Canada and central Europe. And by the end of that we were like ‘OK, we’re ready to get back into our cave and write new music’, and we said to ourselves, this time, we’re gonna take our time and really focus on honing our songwriting craft, and developing Heathers’ sound.”
The pair are doing things a bit differently this time following the stresses of Kingdom, and have decided to release singles over several months rather than a full album all at once. It’s an interesting choice and one that they seem much more comfortable with. “I think for us we sound a whole process of, you know, the album cycle, so recording, then you might be waiting a year until the album can actually be put out, and then you’re touring, then you’re back into the writing process – it’s just such a long cycle, and lots of lulls and waiting around. We feel like this time around we’d like to just keep consistently putting out singles every few months, so I think the next one we put out is going to be around March-time. And then just continue on from that,” says Louise. But not only will this take the pressure off slightly; it’ll allow them to create a collection of songs that they’re happy with, but that might not necessarily add up to a coherent collection.
“We went over and played, and it happened to be Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams standing right in front of us watching us play. It was unbelievably surreal.”
“With the writing this time, we found that there were kind of two sides to Heathers, and it’s hard I guess to put that collection of songs on one record. So it’ll show different sides, the singles will show different sides… I guess ‘November’, we show one side, so the more emotionally, ballad driven side to Heathers, moreso like stripping it back, the way we started off, just quite acoustic. And then the other side would be more pop driven side, upbeat, energetic Heathers.”
There’ll be plenty to look forward to in the coming months in that case, but there’s been plenty of times in the past where the Macnamaras have had to pinch themselves to check if it’s all really happening to them. “A few years ago we played a pre-Oscars party in LA… JJ Abrams [was] throwing an Oscars party in his production studios in Santa Monica, and we were invited over to play at it,” laughs Louise. “It was absolutely insane. We went over and played, and it happened to be Steven Spielberg and himself standing right in front of us watching us play. It was unbelievably surreal. We chatted to them for a while after, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that, it still feels a bit bizarre. But yeah, I’d say that’s probably up there with one of the best gigs, definitely.”
Working as sisters ultimately has to bring the pair back to earth, but there are certainly advantages to working with your family instead of friends or strangers, and Heathers certainly seem joined at the hip. “We like working together, we get on well,” says Louise. “It’s really nice to, number one, have your sister, a member of your family out on the road when we’re touring. You can get homesick and have Ellie there for support. And again, in terms of songwriting, we can be completely honest with each other and we’re not going to hate each other for life. If there is an argument, we make up after ten minutes. There’s no issue there. But at the same time, anyone who spent 24/7 with their family would go absolutely mad, maybe. So we do, we have other things going on and we have our own lives, and when we are home we do make a conscious decision to spend time apart as well. But ultimately I like working with my sister.”
At just 25, the Macnamaras are hopefully just at the beginning of their careers as musicians. But if their release of ‘November’ is anything to go by, they’re certainly not hesitant to try doing things a bit differently, to experiment with new sounds, and above all, to keep moving forward.
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